Peter Gammons of MLB Network and NESN joined WEEI's Mut & Merloni show today to discuss Red Sox issues; here's the transcript. Highlights:
- Gammons feels that Boston's starting catcher situation is "an issue that in the next two weeks is going to be addressed," with Jarrod Saltalamacchia struggling both on defense and offense. Gammons suggests Tim Federowicz is "the best catch-and-throw guy in the organization," and would be the first person called up if the Sox try an internal solution. Gammons does not see anybody good the Red Sox could acquire right now.
- Gammons thinks Jed Lowrie is "right in the middle as far as everyday shortstops in the major leagues." Today in the Boston Herald, Padres assistant GM Jason McLeod talked to John Tomase about what he saw when he drafted Lowrie in 2005. I can see Marco Scutaro being dealt if Lowrie continues to excel for the next few months.
- Rich Hill is Boston's best option among situational lefties, but Gammons says the team wants to "give Rich a full month to get his feet on the ground, get used to this delivery and get his confidence restored before they bring him up." Hill was re-signed by the Red Sox to a minor league deal in mid-December, as GM Theo Epstein elected not to spend money on left-handed relief.
whoa… peter gammons talking about the red sox. it’s as if he never left espn.
For LHP reliever, take a look at the Giants’ Dan Runzler…
Isn’t Mike Napoli pretty much rotting on a bench in Texas?
I think he’s their lefty masher.
I was going to ask the same question. Napoli’s defense may not be the answer, but his bat certainly demands more respect then Salty right now. But I do suppose Texas has a use for him and Theo’s not going to overpay in talent for Napoli either.
though he’s probably not available, I’d be asking Theo to get Napoli. I can’t see it happening now though. Maybe they ride Tek to mid season and then see what’s available. Maybe Ryan Doumit, Chris Snyder, or Kelly Shoppach.
Chris Iannetta is anouther guy they have been linked to in the past, But Snyder and Doumit would could come cheep if the sox assume all of their salary.
Doumit is being paid $5.5M and he catches about as well as David Ortiz plays 1st base.
Snyder is currently on the DL with back problems which is why Arizona let him go…that is to say… chronic injuries plus the fact he has trouble hitting .200 over an entire season. Iannetta was linked to the BoSox last year but the Rockies wanted the moon for him, as I recall, even after they sent him down for not hitting… so, no cigar on that guy either..
Looking around, the Sox are not going to find better than what they have at the catching position, at least until mid summer… by then even Salty will know if he can cut the mustard as a regular in the BoSox lineup..
So, the Globe’s sports writers are just going to have to bite their lips for the time being. And, you watch, if the Sox finish the current road trip evening their record at 12-12 for the season, lots of this media whining and looking for scalps will subside.. winning has a way of calming these nervous noise makers. Even Gammons will start to get real.
David Ross is clearly the answer.
But seriously, he’s the answer. Since joining the Braves, he’s put up a .281, .386, .494 line in 113 games, leading the team in OPS in both years.
In 1,122 PA’s since the start of 2006, he has a .802 OPS.
Point being, send Ellsbury over and he’s yours. Perfectly reasonable trade, right?
Ahh, the joys of rosterbating in April….
Did you think that your post is so great that you needed to post the same thing in two different threads? Sounds like you’re just trying to get likes or to get people laughing by using rosterbating. Seems to be working….
The Red Sox need to stop looking to the Rangers for their catching needs, though we could sign Eric Gagne again and trade him to you guys, if you like.
Peter Gammons sure does talk about the Red Sox a lot.
its because he works for them bro
They need some sort of sarcasm translator here on MLB Trade Rumors.
Yeah, who woulda thought a NESN employee would talk about the Red Sox right?
It’s a crazy idea, but, I could see the Red Sox doing to the Yankees what the Rangers did to Angels. Yankees trade a C + ??? for a SP from some ??? team. That team, then trades that C to the Red Sox for a ??? that they’d rather have.
Nevermind. Too many ???’s to even think about.
Who though? Posada has no glove or arm anymore and not the greatest game calling ability. Montero is definitely looking like the real deal, but who would we give up to acquire him and he’s completely unproven at the major league level. And there are still a lot of concerns that his bat will be too valuable to leave him at catcher. Martin isn’t going anywhere. Cervelli is hurt. Sanchez and Romine are enticing, but I think some big pieces would have to move to get a 3rd team that wanted to get involved. The Sox and Yanks are both not looking to move any big pieces right now.
I don’t know about everyone else, but I am ‘dazed and confused’ after reading that.
Bengie Molina hasn’t filed his retirement papers yet has he?
pretty sure salty can put up a .275 wOBA
the problem isn’t the offense or the defense. the problem is the offense and the defense. he has a lot of promise and he could still figure it out. But Bengie is looking pretty good right now. At least he will grind out good at bats, has experience dealing with star pitching staffs, and can definitely still throw out runners better then Salty or Tek right now.
We can’t let our love for our players overshadow good judgment. Molina is not an awful idea if he’s in shape to play.
The Sox have catchers in the system who would make more sense than Molina.
love? i said salty can produce a .275 wOBA and you think i love him?
i’m not questionining your criticisms of salty. i’m questioning the idea that molina is an upgrade of any significance. he produced a .275 wOBA last year and .308 wOBA the year before that. he’s not a defensive asset either
an awful idea is pretty much exactly what molina is right now
A player is not officially retired until the article runs at mlbtr…
“Gammons says the team wants to ‘give Rich a full month to get his feet on the ground, get used to this delivery and get his confidence restored before they bring him up.'”
For those that don’t know, Rich Hill is attempting to become a situational lefty while adopting a sidearm delivery, thus the “get used to this delivery” quote by Gammons.
If in a couple weeks when Cervelli returns then Gustavo Molina will be available haha. I’m not being serious, but I just wanted to make a joke about him having any trade value whatsoever, now back to regular scheduled programming
Is there a reason the Red Sox traded for Mike McKenry?
gammons is knowledgeable but also a bit senile. mckenry’s gotta be first on the minor league depth chart
Gammons (rightfully so) has a lot of faith in the Red Sox development system. That’s all you are hearing. Not that I necessarily disagree with you about McKenry.
faith in the development system or not, federowitz hadn’t played above single A until this year (40 PA). he’s not getting called up
If it weren’t for the fact that the guy could come in a close 2nd to Nick Johnson in a “how to get injured contest” I’d say the Sox might look into Dioner Navarro.
Navarro can throw out baserunners, and once in his career he even found a way to hit.
I’m amazed Gammons can talk while still keeping his lips firmly on Theo’s backside. That’s some journalism right there!
I don’t see anywhere that Gammons was prasing Theo…..It was a good read if you liked to be informed about a team. He was interviewed about the Red Sox, so he talked about the Red Sox, weird huh?
Ya, because when Ken Rosenthal spits out those King Felix rumors it any different.
Not surprising to see that Salty is already struggling. He was a pretty big reach for the Red Sox, given all his problems as a Ranger.
Wheres the Red Sox dude in spring training that was telling me Salty was better than Martin and on top of that the Red Sox wanted Martin as a back-up…Yeah ok….I don’t wish Salty bad luck but he does have a track record and if the Sox can live with it, then so be it….But the Martin/ Salty comparisons….I just ended the discussion by saying “we will see”…its only spring training…I think it was Blackwell or somebody…don’t
see him on here now…oh well….whatever
From Blackcourt in spring training….”Your ignoring the fact that Martin’s numbers last year were before he went through season ending hip surgery. Major hip surgery. The Red Sox were interested in him but in a back up role, not starting. There is a chance that Martin turns it around, I’m only commenting on reports by scouts, I didn’t make the comments myself. “……He was also telling me how good Salty was going to be based on spring training stats…oh boy!!! Martin 39% throw out rate…Salty 17%…
Not saying you are wrong to chastise Blackcourt about using spring training stats then turn around and use a terribly small sample size for throw out rate? Seems like both of you are wrong.
Yeah…ahh…ok…then
“terrible small”….like all of last year, or the year before or the year before that?…these are full season stats…look at all the years each have played in the majors….then make your own assessment!!!
Fed X even started out hitting decently at Portland also in the early going. Giving him a roster spot, removing varitek from the active roster and finding a coaching job for tek since he has proven (yet again) that his bat is dead would seem to be perfect. Let Fed-X throw the base runners out who have been running at liberty against Boston and let Salty be the back up catcher and play 2-3 games a week.
Get rid of Varitek, and promote Federowicz because he’s hit well for a little over a week at AA? No thanks.
Sure his hitting won’t last and Fed-X has problems with off speed stuff chasing it also, but Varitek has been a liability at the plate for 3 seasons and it is abundantly plain for even ones with blinders on with his fan club one would think by now that he can’t get around on an 85mph FB and still can’t throw anyone out. All that intangibles behind the plate does nobody any good when there is a black hole allowing stolen bases to every one that gets on base and a spot in the lineup that is 1 for 25 on the season and not bound to improve substantially if he remains with the team.
Federowicz WILL stop the running game and certainly will not hit any worse.
I don’t care if Varitek never gets another hit if he can make Beckett and Dice-K throw 1-run games.
Varitek has actually shown that he can hit semi-respectably in a backup role; last year he had a .324 wOBA while Federowicz had a wOBA of .315 in single A, so he certainly could hit worse. Stopping the running game is as much on the pitchers as it is on the catchers anyway.
Once again… it is stopping the running game that is giving the Red Sox fits and something varitek simply is not able to do and none of his fan club here seems to be able to confront, or want to admit and point to the fact (admittedly) that fed-X is not ready with the bat. Varitek cannot hit period and fed-X not ready.. yeah.. The pitchers (other than Lester and Bucholz) don’t do a good of enough job of helping the catchers out with runners, but once again.. If they on’t, the Boston needs someone who can THROW and make up for that pitchers indifference some at least and Varitek sure ain’t it.
there is a reason (other than varitek liking Boston) why he sits on the open market the last 2 seasons as a FA.. His intangibles amount to a hill of beans as compared to the negatives.
If Gammons spoke in the afternoon he may not have been too lucid. He does better in the morning, as most of us old coots do….
Salty has done a good job behind the plate, thus far, even with Wakefield. He has shown some power but his pitch selection has been inconsistent making him look bad, swinging at bad pitches, on numerous occassions. Magadan is working with him to get Jarrod to slow down his swing a bit, with some success, so he says. Also, it is worthy to note that Salty’s wife has been in the latter stages of her third pregnancy for two weeks so it has been hard for him to stay completely focused on his job, with two other small children at home.
As for Veritek, he has been taken advantage of by numerous base runners. Only once in 8 tries has he managed to throw out a runner trying to steal 2nd base when I have watched him play. This is not good. when at the same time he has gone, like, 1-15 at the plate. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear soon that Theo is talking to St. Louis’s front office about backup, Gerald Laird, who still throws out a good percentage of runners who try to steal on him. Adding Jason to the coaching staff, bringing in Laird as a backup, and moving Federwicz up to Pawtucket for a trial run, are logical steps to be taken during these next few weeks, perhaps during the next homestand. Keeping Jason around is important and his influence in the clubhouse should not be minimized…
Agreed – Varitek is hitting 0.050 <—- that's right 0.050 albeit in a small sample size. Catching is not the issue. How about the $127M problem Crawford and Jacoby under 0.200, starting pitching….c'mon give Salty a chance before going to the scrap heap
I think the sox should take a look at Chris Snyder. Guy has unreal pop from the catchers position, and he would put a beating on the monster in left. He probably wouldn’t cost too much considering he’s the bucs backup.
The second Gammons is quoted for anything on this website, all the people who think they know more tha he does leap into “All hje does is talk about the Red Sox!!!” mode and then they move on thinkng they are smart. That’s like calling out Tracy Ringolsby for her excessive Rockie coverage or Evan Grant for only talking Rangers. Those biased hacks!!!
I think the Sox will take Varitek’s offensive output if the pitchers keep pitching this way. I sure as hell will, and smile every time he taps another grounder, if we’re winning 4-0.